Ahead of VIZ Media’s release The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron TrilogyWritten by Mike Avila, Movieweb got the chance to sit down with Mike and showrunner FJ Desanto. The book, slated for release on October 11, is an in-depth look at all of the stories used to create the story for audiences to enjoy when the series hit Netflix. Filled with chapters covering the characters’ in-depth stories, rich and unique backgrounds, toys, and more, the book is truly a must-read for fans of the series and perhaps Transformers in general.
Mike Avila, an award-winning TV producer, has written many works. Wolverine: Creating Marvel’s Legendary Mutant, The Art of Making Aquaman, The Man in the High Castle, and much more. FJ Desanto wrote the foreword to the book, and it’s not his first dive into the waters of Transformers. He co-wrote and executive produced Transformers: Prime Wars Trilogy before you get the call to be the showrunner for Transformers: War for Cybertron. An expert on Japanese manga herself, FJ was the first to speak on the subject during a presentation at the Smithsonian Institute.
When we first sat down, the interview got off to a great start as the two saw my display shelf with several Transformers figures and a display of several Kentucky Derby themed bottles of Kentucky Bourbon. It really opened up the conversation with the two men. I let them know that the work on the show has really yielded at least two definitive figures for collectors: Cyclonus, who isn’t in the series, and Jetfire. Both figures are highly regarded by collectors.
The Preface
I started things off with FJ, whose attacker felt like a love letter to G1, and he felt the same, that it had to be a love letter spanning the nearly 40 years (at the time of production) of the franchise.
We talked about the biggest struggle to fit those nearly 40 years into 18 30-minute episodes. He explained that while some of it is dictated by the toy line and Hasbro, they had to figure out when and how to bring certain characters into it. He described it as that love letter to the entire franchise they’d hoped for by putting together the right team.
The timeline
I wanted to use Machinimas First World Wars Trilogy to set the tone for the War for Cybertron in terms of timeline, noting that the former takes place in a different universe but a similar G1 timeline, one where Starscream’s body was never destroyed and where the Dinobots learned to combine. Even though that universe is different, you still see it as a sequel to G1. That’s why FJ noted that this episode is definitely a prequel to G1, especially the first two chapters, Seige and Earth rise.
“The third chapter, and it was Hasbro’s idea, not ours, to… Beast Wars characters on this particular point actually contradicted G1 as we knew it and then Beast Wars as we knew it.”
He further noted that as showrunner, “Seige and Earthrise happen in G1 and when they enter the Dead Universe all bets are off. The inspiration was like JJ’s Star Trek where Leonard Nimoy was shot very well and if you watch this show for 40 years, this has all happened, and then it turns in a different direction.”
He told the story of a creative debate he had with Hasbro when they wanted the show to end with G1. “I had to say, guys, you’re the ones who wanted the Beast Wars characters to make an appearance in the third season. You inherently denied G1 as we know it.”
He explained Hasbro’s relentless approach to the Beast Wars characters due to the upcoming 25th anniversary, as well as the new movie: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. “It was always my intention to show this as another version of G1, one where there is no Ultra Magnus and Elita is dead, Chromia is dead, Jetfire is dead, and see what that world opens up into. someone would come after me to tell that story.”
He also mentioned concerns about the “black hole” Marvel is now getting into, particularly pointing to the Marvel Multiverse that they may have a hard time getting out of. They wanted to do a G1-centric multiverse, and they needed it because they had a “kill list” made up of characters to kill per season and those to survive.
Bumblebee
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They were initially told they couldn’t use Bumblebee.
“Hasbro was concerned that with the movie coming out there could be an oversaturation of the character. They saw how the movie was doing and came back and asked if we could have Bumblebee hide on the Ark. But I can’t just have him hid in the closet. Finally they saw how well the movie was doing and said ‘okay, you can have Bumblebee.’ So we retroactively created his own bow, the Han Solo bow. The man who wasn’t invested in the war at all and is more or less involved in it.”
Rich Wallpapers
In the book Mike brings up Dunkirk and save Private Ryan and compares it with the background. “It’s the key to the story of the show. You see what life was like before the show happened, the culture. Then I discovered the details of this world that would be destroyed on screen.”
He then emphasized that that’s why they felt it was important to show the public that there was a world that took place before the war, something they’re fighting for. He then brought up a “fun fact” that they drew the world to scale.” That’s quite impressive when you consider robots that are 20 feet tall and taller.
shock wave
At that point, we set our sights on a particular character on the show: Shockwave. We’ve described Shockwave’s comic series as being equal and at times more powerful than Megatron and how his mind is so twisted in this show that it scares even Megatron himself, especially the concept of Shockwave’s reformat tool, which essentially turns all Autobots into Decepticons forcibly.
“We were fascinated by Shockwave. He’s a bigger badass than some people realize. It was written somewhere, and if our producer Matt were here he would know, but it says Shockwave is the only Decepticon Megatron himself is afraid of … was a point where Megatron snapped at Shockwave and pushed him against the wall, and Hasbro made a big stink about it and said they can’t touch each other, you can’t do that.
As we delve more into the insanity of Shockwave, we came upon Optimus’ inaction with the All-Spark and whether it might have been a red herring for Shockwave’s energy device in what caused the ultimate nuclear winter on Cybertron. FJ went on to say that Shockwave, Elita-1, and Jetfire’s side story on Cybertron wasn’t always in the cards.
It wasn’t until later that they realized how rich the Cybertron story could be, including the distress call Shockwave sent out to have all the Transformers meet in the arena and for him to make the call to go in and the energy itself.
“He doesn’t care about the Autobots or Decepticons, he only cares about his own survival. When the arena explodes you don’t know what will happen to him, but in my mind he would digitize his conscience and his new body would be the old Radio Shack ‘Shackwave’ (what a legacy!) and he would be the only survivor of Cybertron Dan, and I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this before, but if you see all the sparks ghosts at the end of Kingdom, all the others who died were there, and he’s not there. He would find a way. In my mind, Shockwave survives.”
Fun facts
Dive into a spirited discussion about Bumblebee, with FJ again saying he was a reluctant member of the war in their story, but he becomes a guide to the carrier of the matrix, a role Ultra Magnus held until he was killed by Megatron at the Tarn-Hauser port. Another fun fact: The Tarn-Hauser Gate is actually a reference to Tarn, the leader of the Decepticon Justice Division in conjunction with Mike Hauser, an exec at the Hasbro studios. From there we got to another fun fact, this time about Scorponok and its use in Earth rise. “We knew we were a Alien-esque episode and we wanted it to be about Scorponok. The problem was, how do you introduce him? The idea was that someone didn’t want Scorponok to come out, just like… Alien.”
The love story
For the show, FJ had to make a call for a female Transformer to align with Optimus, which really led us into the relationship between the two: What exactly is the paradigm for the relationship?
“She’s someone smarter than Optimus and maybe she should have led the Autobots. These two, when she was Ariel and he was Orion, they had two different paths in life.”
He wanted Elita to be the person who would come in Optimus’s face and be the person who could really hold him accountable. “When he finds her dead, he turns into the hardened leader.” It was surprising to learn that, as important as she was to the story, they had a very open canvas to use her.
the controversies
Controversy is key. To wrap things up, we talked about the voice cast as a criticism and how fans had a problem with some voice casting, but in his eyes they made the right decision.
“To get Peter Cullen to come do 18 episodes of Transformers, I have to cut a check and then cut out 75% of the other characters. Some of these voices, like Elita-1, weren’t that elaborate before, but to be a prequel back then. the other actors being 40 years older didn’t make much sense.”
The big critique of the show, which FJ lashed out at, said he’d heard but failed to understand the criticism: Beast Wars Megatron cringing G1 Megatron when his plans in Beast Wars were arguably more successful.
“I don’t understand that criticism. I’ll tell you why. He’s a man who called himself Megatron. His ulterior motive is to prevent G1 from Megatron becoming Galvatron, because he knows Galvatron is a plague to his world, but he’s the ultimate fanboy.”
He goes on to say, “He is cheating on Megatron to take steps to prevent him from becoming Galvatron. He studies history and he knows more about Megatron than Megatron knows about himself.”
Is it the end?
Legacy was passed on by Netflix, but is there hope?
“My team, while still in production on Kingdom we developed a full three-season together with Hasbro Legacy storyline set in the War for Cybertron universe, and Legacy would have been a sequel to G1. It would have been colorful and fun, but real commitment and real drama.”